Detail of an Avaric belt

This plaque of silver-plated bronze was part of a belt. It had a picture of a mythical animal called a griffin on it.

The griffin is half lion, half eagle. It has the beak and wings of a bird of prey and the paws and tail of a big cat.

Many mythical animals were invented in Antiquity, for instance mer-maids (half fish, half woman), Sphinx (a cross between a lion and a woman) and the unicorn with its long horn in the middle of a horse’s head …